US STOCKS-WAll St slips as weak results spur profit-taking

                                
  
 * Outlooks from Aetna, Verizon weigh after market's rally
 * Boeing falls after downgrade
 * Dow off 0.3 pct; S&P 500 off 0.3 pct; Nasdaq off 0.5 pct
 * For up-to-the-minute market news click [STXNEWS/US]
 (Updates to midday, changes byline)
                                
 By Ryan Vlastelica
                                
 NEW YORK, July 27 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks declined on
Monday as disappointing reports from Verizon <VZ.N> and Aetna
Inc <AET.N> prompted profit taking after the Dow and the S&P
500 touched 8-month closing highs.
                                
 All three major U.S. stock indexes scored a second
straight weekly advance on Friday, with the Dow rising 4
percent, the S&P 500 gaining 4.1 percent and the Nasdaq
climbing 4.2 percent. For the two weeks through Friday's
close, each of the major indexes was up about 11 percent.
                                
 "I think we've come a little too far," said Chip Hanlon,
the president of Delta Global Advisors in Huntington Beach,
California. "The movement today is mostly a reaction to last
week's movement."
                                
 Verizon Communications reported second-quarter earnings
that fell from a year ago and said it would cut 8,000 jobs in
its landline business. The stock fell 2.6 percent to $30.68
and was the top drag on the Dow. [ID:nN27459880]
                                
 Aetna shares shed 4.5 percent to $25.25 after the company,
one of the biggest U.S. providers of employer-based health
insurance, cut its full-year outlook, citing
higher-than-projected medical costs. [ID:nN27503383]
                                
 Hanlon said that despite the stock market's slight
decline, "it's a surprisingly strong market today. I think the
market is continuing to price in the notion that the economy
is slowly on the mend."
                                
 Stronger-than-expected earnings, coupled with data
suggesting an economic recovery could be around the corner,
have lifted indexes over the last two weeks, giving stocks
their best two-week run since just after the S&P 500 hit a
12-year closing low in the beginning of March.
                                
 Also influencing the market's mood: Sales of new
single-family homes in the United States rose more than
expected in June, while the inventory of homes for sale fell
to more than an 11-year low. [ID:nN27520623]
                                
 The data drove the Dow Jones U.S. home construction index
<.DJUSHB> up 3.5 percent to 256.83.
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 27.58 points,
or 0.30 percent, to 9,065.66. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index
<.SPX> dropped 2.98 points, or 0.30 percent, to 976.28. The
Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> slid 9.60 points, or 0.49
percent, to 1,956.36.
                                
 After Verizon, the biggest drag on the Dow was Boeing Co
<BA.N>, which fell 1.1 percent to $41.89 after Barclays
downgraded the stock to "equal-weight" from "overweight."
[ID:nBNG506420]
 (Editing by Jan Paschal)